Application Ser. No. 526,945, filed Aug. 29, 1983 discloses and claims multi-contact electrical connectors of the type having a connector housing, terminals in the housing, and a cover member which is assembled to the conductor receiving face of the housing after wires are connected to the terminals in the housing. Housings as described in the above identified application may be either of the wire end type which are installed on the ends of wires or of the feed-through type which are so called for the reason that the wires extend through the connector and the connector is installed at an intermediate location on the cable or wires. The present invention is generally directed to the achievement of an improved apparatus for installing connectors as disclosed, for example, in application Ser. No. 526,945 on wires or cables. The invention is also directed to the achievement of an apparatus having a wire or cable cutter which function to trim the cable or wire at the time of installation of the connector on the cable. In accordance with a further aspect, the invention is directed to the achievement of an apparatus which can be used with continuous strips of connector housing material and connector cover material so that connectors of any desired size can be produced by simply trimming a connector housing and cover from the end portions of the continuous strips when the connector is installed on the cable.
One embodiment of the invention comprises an apparatus for cutting a cable and installing a connector assembly on the cut end of the cable, the cable comprising a plurality of conductors in side-by-side parallel relationship in a single plane. The connector assembly comprises a connector housing and a cover, the housing having a conductor-receiving face, oppositely facing housing sidewalls and oppositely facing housing endwalls, the sidewalls and endwalls surrounding, and extending from, the conductor-receiving face. The housing has a row of spaced-apart terminals therein which extend between the endwalls, the terminals having conductor-receiving slots at the conductor receiving face. The slots extend normally of the conductor-receiving face so that conductors which extend parallel to the conductor-receiving face can be moved laterally of their axes and into the conductor-receiving slots. The cover is dimensioned for assembly to the conductor-receiving face and has inserters thereon for moving conductors into the conductor-receiving slots upon assembly to the housing. The cover has oppositely facing side surfaces and oppositely facing end surfaces which are contiguous with the housing sidewalls and housing endwalls respectively when the cover is assembled to the housing. The apparatus is characterized in that it comprises a cover jig, a housing jig, and a cable locator, the housing jig being opposed to the cover jig. The housing jig and the cover jig have housing holding means and cover holding means respectively for holding a housing with the conductor receiving face thereof opposed to a cover in the cover jig. The jigs are relatively movable towards each other to assemble the cover to the mating face of the housing. The cable locator is between the cover jig and the housing jig and is effective to locate a cable in a plane between the jigs with the conductors in the cable in alignment with the conductor-receiving slots in terminals in a housing in the housing jig. The housing jig has a first shearing edge thereon which extends parallel to, and is beside one sidewall of a housing in the housing jig. The cover has a second shearing edge thereon which extends beside, and is adjacent to, the one side surface of a cover in the cover jig which is in alignment with the one sidewall of the housing in the housing jig whereby, upon placement of a connector housing and cover in the housing jig and cover jig, location of a cable by the cable locator, and upon relative movement of the cover jig towards the housing jig, the cable will be severed by the shearing edges and the conductors will be inserted into the conductor-receiving slots of the terminals. If the apparatus is specifically intended for installing a connector on a cable comprising a plurality of discrete wires, the cable locator has a plurality of spaced-apart notches each of which is designed to receive a discrete wire.
A further embodiment comprises an apparatus of the type comprising a wire jig, a housing jig, and a plurality of inserters, the wire jig having wire locators for locating the wires in parallel spaced-apart relationship in a single plane with the spacing between the wires equal to the spacing between the terminals in the housing. The housing jig is on one side of the single plane and is positioned to hold a housing with the wire-receiving slots in the terminals in alignment with the wires, the inserters are on the other side of the single plane, each of the inserters being in alignment with one of the wires. The inserters are movable relatively towards the plane so that the inserters push the wires towards a housing in the housing jig and into the wire-receiving slots of the terminals, the apparatus is characterized in that the inserters are integral with a connector closure which is dimensioned to be assembled to the housing during insertion of the wires into the wire-receiving slots, the closure having one major surface from which the inserters extend and having oppositely facing side surfaces and oppositely facing end surfaces which surround, and extend from the one major surface. A connector closure jig is provided on the other side of the single plane, the closure jig being movable relatively towards and away from the housing jig. The housing jig has a first shearing edge thereon and the closure jig has a second shearing edge thereon, the first shearing edge extending parallel to, and being beside, one sidewall of a housing in the housing jig and the second shearing edge being opposed to, and cooperable with the first shearing edge whereby during assembly of the housing to the closure, the wires are severed by the shearing edges.
A further embodiment is characterized in that a housing severing blade is provided in the closure jig, the housing severing blade having a housing severing edge which extends normally of the second shearing edge and is located between two adjacent wires in the wire jig whereby the housing and closure are severed between two adjacent cavities. A further embodiment is characterized in that the first severing edge and the second severing edge each have a plurality of spaced-apart notches therein which are in opposed aligned relationship, the apparatus being intended for use with a housing having wire admitting slots in the one sidewall at the wire-receiving face which are in alignment with the terminals in the cavities. The housing and closure have ledges on the one sidewall and on the one side surface of the housing and closure respectively, the ledges being between juxtaposed cavities in the housing, the notches being dimensioned to receive the ledges.
In accordance with a further embodiment, the apparatus is intended for use with housing strip material and cover strip material, the housing strip material comprising a continuous strip of housing so that a connector can be produced by trimming the end portion of the strip. Similarly, the cover strip material is trimmed to produce a cover member for the housing. The apparatus has guides for guiding the housing strip material and cover strip material to the housing jig and the cover jig and cutters are provided for trimming the housing from the end of the housing strip and the cover from the end of the cover strip.